Just read on HN that Google Wave was created by the same people as Google Maps.

---http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Eilstrup_RasmussenIn early 2003, Rasmussen and his brother Lars started Where 2 Technologies, a mapping project that developed the prototype of their mapping application called Expedition. Google acquired Where 2 Technologies in October 2004, and the Rasmussen brothers then became Google employees. Both brothers were on the team that launched Google Maps in early 2005......Rasmussen invented Google Wave in 2004, while the brothers were in talks with Google about selling Where 2 Technologies to Google. The Rasmussen brothers started working on Google Wave in 2006, and in 2007 Jens moved to Sydney, Australia, where he continued working with Lars and a small team on the Google Wave idea, under the project name Walkabout. Google Wave was an open source code internet application launched in 2009 and discontinued in 2012.---

WTF?My nice theory that startup/product success is 90% predefined by founders/creator just went down in flames.... or did Google Wave die because initial prototype cannot be developed in a big corp environment with endless resources?

If every 10th project of a successful guy would work out, that does not mean 10%. That means 10% multiplied by ratio of how many successful geniuses relative to the mass are out there (not so many). Reading an article about Elon Musk.